Photo courtesy of Ventura County Aviation Unit
In this image pulled from the @VCAirUnit Twitter account, an aerial view is shown of the area where a kayaker was attacked by a shark off the coast near the intersection of Air Squad on scene of Pacific Coast Highway and Deer Creek Road near Malibu Saturday afternoon.

MALIBU >> A kayaker fishing north of Malibu was injured Saturday after his foot was struck by a 10-foot shark, Ventura fire officials said.

A 25-year-old man was fishing in the waters off Pacific Coast Highway and Deer Creek Road, Malibu and Point Mugu, when the shark bumped his foot at 2:40 p.m., said Capt. Ron Oatman of the Ventura County Fire Department.

He was being treated at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center for a foot injury.

“What was described as a 10-foot shark hit his foot, but was not described as a bite,” Oatman said. “The top of his foot was injured.”

He had been fishing with another kayaker about a mile offshore, with his foot dragging in the water, he said, when what fisherman described as a hammerhead shark struck his foot.

The fire department initially received a call for a water rescue, then a kayaker in distress, then finally what may have been a shark attack, Oatman said.

After the attack, the kayakers flagged down a nearby fishing boat, which loaded the injured man into their vessel and sailed close to shore, he said. While aboard the boat, he and the fishermen were able to stem the bleeding.

State lifeguards swam out to meet the injured man, who then paddled his kayak to the beach. After being treated by firefighters, he was airlifted to the hospital in Thousand Oaks. His condition was unknown.

The shark encounter occurred about a mile off the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Deer Creek Road.